


fall upon your knees

by chaosplxnet



Series: Blame [1]
Category: All This Bad Blood - Bastille (Album), Bastille (Band), Wild World Communications
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Character Death, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, M/M, Mind Control, WWCOMMS, Wild World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-03-09 18:03:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13486848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosplxnet/pseuds/chaosplxnet
Summary: Kyle takes a job at the mysterious Wild World Communications as an undercover spy for the rebel alliance the Currents.Chaos ensues.





	1. fall upon your knees

**Author's Note:**

> this is a story i've been wanting to write since the whole WWCOMM idea started. hopefully i finish it thru! lol

     Heavy, ragged breathing was the only thing Dan heard. It took a moment for him to realize that it was his. By now, the bruises on his arms and face had stopped stinging, and the only proof of the abuse was a black eye and a trail of blood from his nose that had long since dried. He leaned his head back onto the headrest of the chair he had been forced into and waited for the moment of truth. He absentmindedly wondered how long he’d have to wait before-

     Dan nearly fell out of his chair when the door burst revealing his superior, which snapped him back into reality. He quickly stumbled out of the chair and winced at the soreness of his body.

     “You’re awake,” he said, seeming surprised. “Are you ready to finish up then?” He stood rigid and tall, not giving away any emotion. Although he was about the same height as Dan, his very presence in the room made Dan’s stomach tighten. He had the authority to stop this, but he continued to fuck Dan over again and again. Just thinking about it made Dan’s hands curl into fists, and he imagined taking a swing. He could land a few blows before the other man could do anything.

     But that’s what got him here in the first place. As if in reminder, he felt the sting of his wounds and the stiffness of the blood on his face. Dan swallowed his anger and tried to wipe off any sign of emotion off his face, then gave his superior an affirmative nod.

     The man clapped his hands together and said, “Then let’s go. I trust you have what you need?” Dan nodded, and followed the other man out of the room and into the hall. They walked abreast briskly, and neither spoke as they wove their way further and further into the labyrinth-like compounds of the building. Finally, after what felt like both too long and too short of a walk, they stopped outside of double metal doors.

     Dan took a deep breath and opened the door quickly with the hope that he could shut himself in and deal with this himself. Before he could, though, his superior quickly put his arm out and stopped the door from closing.

     “Aren’t you going to let me in?” he asked.

     All the breath seemed to freeze in Dan’s chest. Now he was well and truly fucked. There was no way out of this. Dan moved aside and let him step into the dimly lit room, with Dan following closely behind.

     The only things occupying the room besides the two men was a figure who was seated in a chair. If Dan looked closely, he could see their hands tied to the back and their legs shackled to it. If he looked even closer, he could make out the bloody face and the ratty hair and the torn clothing and...

     Dan pulled his gaze away, and he felt the knot in his stomach tighten. He couldn’t do this. No, he shouldn’t do this. But he knew that refusing this job would be meaningless. It can and would be completed with or without him. If he refused, he would end up exactly where Kate would be soon.

     Kate, referring to the figure tied up. Not only his partner for three years, but his best friend, his confidant, and the one person he trusted most.

     Now, because of their stupid fucking mistakes, he had to kill her.

     No, not kill. _Take care of_.

     “We don’t have all day,” his manager said with a slight drawl. “Get on with it.”

     Dan shut his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, then stepped into the middle of the room. Kate’s eyes made contact with his, almost giving him pause. Almost. He knew, though, that this needed to be done. After all, if he were the one in that chair, she wouldn’t hesitate. He almost wished he could have her easy way out.

     Perhaps if the other man wasn’t in the room he could find a way to fake her death and sneak her out of here, but that was the kind of wishful thinking that got them here in the first place. Besides, Dan was the best marksman they had, and anything less than an elimination of the target would result in two dead bodies.

     That’s what she was now. Just another body, just another target. Just another threat to the security of the future.

     That’s what he had been told, and that’s what he had to believe.

     Steeling himself, Dan did what he had been trained to do: he cleared his head and refused to think.

     He didn’t think as he pulled out the gun.

     He didn’t think as he raised it, leveling it with her head.

     He didn’t think as he clicked off the safety.

     He didn’t think as he pulled the trigger and got rid of the target.


	2. these streets are yours

    Kyle rubbed his face, trying to ignore his shaking hands and pounding heart. _You can do this. You can definitely bloody do this._ He could repeat this mantra thousands of times, but he knew that the pit of anxiety would only get worse as the clock neared 8:00am.

   Any other job wouldn’t faze him like this. But this wasn’t any other day or any other job. He was about to start an internship for the most powerful media company in history, Wild World Communications. For a long time, Kyle didn’t get why it was such a threat; what harm could they do?

  Kyle would have never looked into it more it had he not stumbled across a website for an independent media company, one of the last ones that hadn’t been bought by WWCOMMs. From there, he heard about a few journalists who had been investigating it and had gone missing. At first, he ignored it, because something like that would get a fuck-ton of media coverage, right? It had to be a crazy conspiracy theory, but when Kyle searched the names of the missing journalists online, he couldn’t find any news about their disappearances, or their deaths. Something like this would’ve had to be on the front page, but the lack of news cemented Kyle’s suspicions.

  Then the few missing employees doubled, then tripled. The last straw was when he read that a long-term employee of WWCOMMs had been found in a back alley in Westminster, shot in the head. The crime should’ve been splashed across every news headline and pop culture rag, especially since it was nearly impossible to buy a gun anymore. It was even more convincing because Kyle had known the last person. He had gone to the same school with her, not in the same year, but nonetheless he knew _of_ her. He knew she existed, and when he checked the obituaries that week, a small paragraph had been written for her, saying she died of a bullet to the head. They had framed it as a suicide, but at this point it was too far-fetched to call it a coincidence. All of the seemingly random disappearances had a single thing in common, and that was WWCOMMs.

  That’s when Kyle had first heard about the Currents, an underground online resist that tried to expose WWCOMMs for what it was: a poisonous and dangerous company with malevolent goals. It was hard to figure out how, exactly, it grew so large in such a small amount of time, and the best way to fight against the corporation was through letting the public know what hid behind the exterior. After Kyle had learned about the most recent disappearance, he got into contact with those behind the Currents. It’s also how he met Woody, who had started the whole thing. That had been six months ago, but it already felt like a lifetime. Although Kyle felt like they had done massive amounts of work, it was almost impossible to get a closer look at the inner workings of WWCOMMs.

   Which brought Kyle back to this moment. There had been a job offering posted to work in WWCOMM’s security department, and Woody had suggested Kyle apply, because that could be their only chance to get the inside information they needed. After a lot of begging and incessant nagging, Kyle had applied for it, mostly to get Woody off his back. Kyle never expected to get a bite. But then he got an interview, then a second interview, and finally, a phone call offering him the position.

   Everyone who worked for the Currents knew the risks of getting involved directly with WWCOMMs. The only reason Woody hadn’t applied (outside of his love of nagging Kyle to do shit) was because of his wife, and Kyle had…well, he used to have a girlfriend. Now, this work was all he had, and he had decided to run with it. It was for the greater good, right?

   Eventually the tube stopped at the right station, and Kyle quickly got off and maneuvered through the crowd until he was on his way up the stairs. He tried not to think about how each step brought him closer to Big Brother incarnate, instead trying to focus on other things, like the usual dreary London weather, or a stray cat that was in an alley he passed. Even thinking about his ex would help right now, something he never thought was possible.

   After walking about a block from the station, Kyle finally stopped in front of WWCOMM’s main building. It was an unassuming office, only a few stories high and it had a simple sign above the entrance with the name and the triple triangle logo emblazoned on it. Under that it read, _Here for You, Wherever You Are_.

   “Fuck,” Kyle muttered under his breath. What a creepy slogan, too. He stood outside for longer than necessary trying to quell his nerves, knowing he had to go in sooner or later but dreading taking another step.

Finally, after far too much hesitation, he opened the door and walked directly into the lion’s den.

*****

   “Hi, how can I help you today?” the desk assistant asked Kyle as he stepped inside and approached him. His nameplate read Charlie Barnes.

   Kyle swallowed his anxiety and said, “Actually it’s my first day on the job. I was told to come up to the front desk and…check in?” He said it uncertainly, not knowing the proper protocol, and quickly fumbled around in his pockets and showed Charlie the ID he had been mailed.

   “Oh, right, you’re the new hire. If you’ll follow me, then, I can show you to your new manager’s office and they can get you settled in.” Charlie gave Kyle a bright smile and motioned for him to follow as he stood up from his desk. The secretary was acting normally; Kyle had just assumed that suspicious or something. For a moment, a cloud of doubt snaked through his head and gave him pause. What if he’s nervous for nothing? As if on cue, the pit in his stomach loosened just a touch, enough for him to almost let his guard down-

 _No, that’s fucking ridiculous_ , Kyle thought, shaking his head as if to dislodge the thought so it couldn’t take root. Just because a single secretary is nice doesn’t mean anything. Right? Regardless, he had to remain alert. If anyone found out why he was here…. well, that just couldn’t happen.

   Charlie led Kyle through a few hallways bordered by cubicles, and so far, the entire office seemed shockingly normal. Kyle didn’t know what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t a clean, mostly white modern office with dozens of employees darting around.

   “This is our main office, where a lot of our journalists work,” Charlie explained, weaving around the desks expertly. “Wild World is trying to expand its journalism base, which was our cornerstone when the company first started up.” From there, Charlie continued to talk about Wild World’s various projects and expansions, but Kyle tuned him out. He had already read everything there was to read about the company, and although he knew it was important to learn everything he could, if Kyle heard about how wonderful WWCOMMs is one more time he might throw up. Nonetheless, he nodded at all the correct parts of Charlie’s spiel.

   Every so often Charlie would greet someone or wave in someone else’s direction, and again Kyle found himself almost relaxing, and again, he had to shake himself out of it. He didn’t know what it was about this place, but it was like it was hard to concentrate on why he was actually here. The bright white lights, the constant murmur of voices, and the steady feeling of productivity was deceiving. As much as Kyle wanted to believe that nothing was amiss here, he couldn’t shake what he knew: at least twenty-three employees had gone missing in the past year, and the only thing connecting them was their ties to this insidious company.

   Finally, Charlie stepped through a door that was at the far end of the winding office and motioned toward a door directly on the right. He said, “Here’s the office for the head of your department. Just take a seat in there and he should be with you shortly.”

   Kyle nodded and thanked him, then stepped inside the office and sat down to wait. The office was nice but sparsely decorated, home to little more than a neat desk with a new looking laptop, a few closed file cabinets, and three chairs situated around the desk. The walls were bare, except for a single print of the WWCOMMs symbol. Of course. Kyle hoped he didn’t have to work in a place like this. The emptiness would drive him mad.

   After what felt like an eternity, the door finally opened and two men stepped into the room. Kyle stood up, suddenly feeling the butterflies he had before beginning again at an alarming rate. They only got worse when Kyle realized who he was working with: Will Farquarson, one of the featured anchormen for the WWCOMMs broadcasts and a major influence for the company. The other man looked younger, and less intimidating, but also familiar.

   Before Kyle could think about them any longer, Will spoke and said, “Welcome! You’re Kyle Simmons, correct?” When Kyle nodded, he smiled widely. “I’m Will Farquarson, and I’m the head of the security department for Wild World.” He then motioned to the man standing next to him, who seemed to be about Kyle’s age. “This is your new partner, Daniel Smith.”

   Daniel nodded and stuck out his hand, and Kyle quickly reached out and shook it. It was driving him mad the fact that Kyle couldn’t place him.  


“Now that you’re acquainted, would you take a seat?” Will asked then motioned towards the chairs in front of the desk. As they sat, he said, “Before we get started, I just wanted to ask you one question.”  


   Kyle felt his chest tighten as he lowered himself gingerly into the chair.

   “What made you want to work for us?” he asked.

   Oh, thank fucking god. “Well, erm, Wild World is the biggest media company in the world. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?” He then repeated whatever positive jargon Charlie had been going on about, and hoped that this would be a good enough answer. Ass kissing had always worked for him before.

   “Interesting.” Will noted, and Kyle felt himself freeze. “Let’s get started then, shall we?”

   Kyle tried not to let the worry show on his face, hoping that he would be able to waffle his way through this awkward first day.  


   The next few hours flew by, with Kyle being introduced to his new duties and his new office, which was right by the receptionist’s desk. The front walls of the office were double-sided glass, which let Kyle and Dan see out to the main lobby, but not the other way around. Most of the job consisted of watching cameras and making sure all the visitors were approved, which seemed innocuous enough.

   One thing stood out to Kyle: Will did most of the talking and training, which confused him. Shouldn’t Daniel be the one helping him? They were going to work together right? Most of the time, Daniel was doing his own thing and leaving the office whenever he needed to while Will coached Kyle through his duties for the morning and the beginning of the afternoon.

   Eventually, after a brief lunch break that consisted of more of Will’s questions and less of Kyle’s fumbling to find the right answer, Will left the room, citing that he had his own business to attend to.

   Kyle sat back at his desk, the silence that had permeated between him and Daniel getting even more noticeable now that they were alone without the constant questions from their manager. After a moment, Kyle asked “So, ah, have you worked here long?”, a futile attempt at making small talk.

   Daniel simply nodded in response.

   “Great,” Kyle muttered, then decided that communication with his partner was a lost cause for today. He turned his attention back to his work, his mind wandering to think about how he had gotten here in the first place. His arts degree from Leeds probably didn’t add much credibility to him for this job.

   Wait.

   Of course.

   “Did you go to Leeds for university?” Kyle asked, turning to Daniel yet again.

   It took a moment of silence, but finally Daniel glanced up from his computer screen and met Kyle’s eye for the first time since they shook hands. “Why?”

   “I dunno,” Kyle said, leaning back in his chair. Even though it was only one word, he couldn’t help but feel a zing of victory at getting his partner to acknowledge him. “You just seem familiar.”

   Daniel snorted, and Kyle frowned, his victory torn away from him. “What?” he snapped, feeling anger take the place of triumph.

   “I guess I wasn’t that memorable,” Daniel muttered as he got up out of his chair. “It’s time to clock out,” were his parting words before he gathered his things and left Kyle sitting dumb-founded in his chair.

   What the fuck did that mean? Daniel wasn’t exactly forgettable; he was actually quite good-looking with dark hair and blue eyes and really well shaped lips-

   _Fuck_. With a groan, Kyle remembered where he knew Daniel from.

   They had gone to Leeds together, that much was correct. Somehow, they had ended up at a shitty party together despite not being in the same year.

   Back then, Kyle had called him Dan.

   The last time Kyle had seen Dan, he was tangled up in his sheets while Kyle quietly snuck out of Dan’s apartment.

   Ah. Fuck.

 


	3. can you fill this silence?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyle gets used to his job at WWCOMMs, and finds a disturbing link.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is kind of a short entry, but hopefully it's enough to tide ya'll over! i'm hoping to upload a new chapter weekly, every monday.

   “So, tell me everything one more time,” Woody said, his eyes glued to the piece of paper that was in front of him.

   Kyle groaned. It was the night after his first shift, and after returning back to his flat for a short while just to make sure no one was following him, Kyle had gone to the Current’s hideout, which was located in the back of a dingy chip shop. The smell of oil and mildew didn’t exactly set the scene for a successful revolution, but it was good enough to provide them some piece of mind. The owner let them use his abandoned office in the back, provided that he could play innocent if this whole thing unraveled.

   “Hey,” Woody said, waving his hand in front of Kyle’s face. “Look, I know it’s been a long day, but we just need to go over it one more time, okay?”

   “Fine.” Kyle huffed, then sat back and once again told Woody every detail about his first day on the job: his tour with Charlie, the meeting with Will, his training and his duties for his job, Daniel…

   Woody paused. “And Daniel seemed weird?”

   “Yeah, he wouldn’t talk to me that much,” Kyle said, although he didn’t give more information than that. Woody didn’t need to know about their escapade that took place one drunken night.

   Woody raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He glanced down at his notes, then finally set down his pencil and leaned back. “I think that’s good enough for now. I’ll put this with the rest of the notes.”

   Kyle let out a sigh of relief as Woody got up and sorted the paper into a folder. Anything that wasn’t published on the Current’s website was written down by hand because Woody was both a paranoid and an incredibly careful bastard. That paranoia was what kept the Currents safe, though, and Kyle couldn’t help but feel a spark of appreciation for Woody’s dedication. If the papers weren’t published, Woody would keep them in a locked safe in his house, but if they contained sensitive enough information, he’d burn them.

   “One last question, and it’s the most important one.” Woody said, and Kyle felt himself tense at yet another important question. “Are you okay?”

   The question surprised Kyle, not just because it was thoughtful, but because he didn’t have an answer right away. The short answer was no, because he was managing a balancing act that his very life depended on. But honestly? After the rut he had been in for the past few weeks, it was kind of wonderful to feel needed, to be doing something that he knew could make a positive change.

   “I’m…okay,” he said finally as he gave Woody a tired smile.

   Woody nodded and returned the smile. “You should get some sleep. That’ll help.”

   “Good idea,” Kyle said, and began gathering his things as he stood up to leave. As he headed out the door, Woody called after him. “Kyle?”

   “What?”

   “Thank you for doing this. I definitely owe you one.” Woody said.

   Kyle felt a real smile pull at his lips. “Yeah, you fucking do.”

***

   Once Kyle got back to his flat, all he wanted to do was collapse onto his bed and sleep until his alarm went off tomorrow morning. He forced himself to be a productive adult, though, and changed into sweats and cooked dinner and cleaned up a little. By the time he got into bed later that night, Kyle still had a bit of energy left, so he scrolled through his phone in his dark bedroom. Despite his best interest, his mind turned to Daniel, or Dan as he knew him before. It was a drunken hookup, right after Kyle had been dumped by his long-time girlfriend. He had forgotten that he left his number on Dan’s nightstand, but he didn’t remember ever getting a text back, so why Dan was pissed at him was beyond Kyle. Now, because his life was a goddamn comedy, he had to work with one of the most beautiful men he ever had the pleasure of hooking up with at one of the most dangerous jobs that seemed to exist.

   His curiosity about Dan peaked and Kyle muttered, “There’s no harm in looking him up, right?” as he opened up Facebook. He typed in Dan’s full name and had to do a bit of scrolling before he found a profile that seemed to match him. There hadn’t been any activity in some time, and the most recent post was from about two years ago. Kyle frowned; it was an update that stated Dan had gotten a job at WWCOMMs, but not in the security department. He seemed to be a journalist that was just starting out.

   Kyle looked at the comments of the post. Lots of congratulations, mostly from what seemed like family. One thing stood out to Kyle: a woman named Kate had commented, _Congrats! See you there!_

Could that be…? Kyle went to look at her page, and lo and behold, it had been turned into a memorial by a family member. She was the most recently killed journalist, and she seemed to have a direct connection to Kyle’s new partner. Which meant that Dan could know something about her death, and maybe even something about the more sinister goings-on of WWCOMMs. Later that night, after he had tried to fall asleep, Kyle tossed and turned in bed, his brain a muddled mess of intertwining threads that never seemed to have a clear connection. Eventually his anxieties subsided, and he fell asleep.

***

   The next morning followed about the same path as the first day, and so did the next day, and the rest of that week. Dan was just as out of reach, maybe even more so, but Kyle learned to live with it. They only time they talked was when Kyle had a question, but as he got more used to the job, the amount of times he needed help continued to shrink until Kyle felt like he was mostly competent at his job. He tried to make friends, or at least acquaintances, with other employees, and eventually found a friend in Charlie. They didn’t really talk outside of the building, but since they worked so close to each other, they both figured it was easiest to sit together during lunch.

   On Friday evening, right as Kyle was about to leave for the weekend, he was stopped by none other than Will Farquarson. “Kyle!” He said cheerfully, stepping towards him. Kyle stopped reluctantly and gave Will what he hoped was an enthusiastic smile.

   “Cheers!” he said as he turned to Will, hoping to mask the tremor in his voice.

   Will gave him a warm smile. “Just wondering how our newest employee is doing. Mind taking a seat in my office? I won’t delay your Friday night too much.”

   As if Kyle had any immediate plans he needed to get to. “Of course,” he said, not feeling like he had a choice.  He walked into the office and sat down as flashbacks from his first day played out in his head. Has he fucked up at all? Did they find out why he was really there? He tried to move his thoughts away from the negative; after all, if he had been found out, Woody would have known and would have tried to contact him by now.

   Will came into the office and shut the door and took a seat behind his desk. “Nothing to worry about today,” he started with a smile, “Just wanted to make sure you’re adjusting okay. The first few days here can be a whirlwind.”

   “Yeah, no everything is great,” Kyle replied. “Everyone is kind and helpful, and I think I’m getting the hang of my work.”

   “How’s working with Daniel?”

   Kyle swallowed hard and tried to mask the blush that he could feel creeping up his neck. “It’s good. He’s pretty quiet, but he’s a good worker.”

   “Good,” Will said with a nod. “He’s one of our best. After his previous partner left,” he paused briefly, “Well, Daniel needs someone to help him. It’s a lot of work, keeping this place safe!”

   Kyle nodded in a way that he hoped was convincing.

   “Any questions or concerns you have for me?” Will asked, still making eye contact with Kyle. His gaze seemed penetrating, almost like he could see right through Kyle’s ruse.

   Kyle shook his head and took this as his cue to stand up out of his chair. “None today, sir.”

   “Please, call me Will,” he said as he reached out to shake Kyle’s hand. “Have a good weekend, you deserve it!”

***

   The weekend was the ultimate blessing, as it gave Kyle a chance to relax and let his mind process the past week without much interruption. Although Kyle’s Friday night consisted of him sitting on his couch numbing his brain with reruns of an old TV show, it helped him relax. Nothing like Fridays used to be in uni, but then again, maybe it was a good thing. This way, he wouldn’t accidentally hook up with beautiful men who seem to be the lapdog for a corrupt corporation.

   Or maybe that situation was unique to Kyle.

   The weekend passed uneventfully, with Kyle going out to dinner with a few friends Saturday night then meeting with Woody on Sunday evening.

   “So, any big plans?” Kyle asked as they sat down in the office.

   “Not yet,” Woody muttered as he looked through the notes he took the previous week. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, mate, and we’ll figure it out.”

   Kyle nodded and was about to stand up to leave when Woody finally put the paperwork down and looked at Kyle.

   “Are you sure you’re okay?”

   For a moment, Kyle considered lying again but thought better of it. “Honestly? I feel like shit.”

   And then he spewed out all the things he had been hiding: Will’s odd interest in him, the possible connection between Dan and one of the murdered workers, and him and Dan’s, erm, previous meeting.

   For a moment Woody was silent. Then he said, “That’s quite a lot on your shoulders.”

   Kyle laughed, feeling a bit of tension leave his shoulder after he unloaded his anxieties. “Yeah, just a bit.”

   “Well, I can’t fix it for you, but we can try and make the situation with Dan more bearable. Just keep this act up. Eventually, one of you has to break the silence, right?”


	4. you've got the power and control here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyle makes a breakthrough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i just realized i posted chapters out of order, and holy shit i'm so sorry!! i've deleted the wrong chapters and put them all up in the right order. again i'm so sorry about this!!

   Woody was right, but it’s not like Kyle was happy about it. Most of his interactions with Dan were either an unmatched greeting when they came into the office in the morning or Dan telling Kyle to clock out for the day. After nearly a week of silence, Kyle finally decided to try and remedy the situation.

   “I’m sorry,” he blurted out awkwardly one Thursday afternoon, his voice sounding too loud and too foreign in an office that seemed to thrive on silence. 

   “What?” Dan asked without looking at him.

   Kyle sighed. “I’m sorry for not, erm, calling you. And for being a dick.”

   “Huh,” Dan said in reply, then turned to face him. “I thought you were going to apologize for leaving the office unlocked last night, but that works too.”

   Despite himself, Kyle felt a smile tug on his lips. “I mean, that’s what I meant, never mind- “

   “No, no, I’ll accept that apology.” Dan laughed, and Kyle wondered how he could ever forget someone like Dan. For a moment it seemed like Dan was going to say something else, but then thought better of it.

   Kyle decided to press his luck. “Are we alright, then?”

   “Yeah,” Dan said, his eyes getting a far-off look. “Sorry if I’ve been, ah, distant as of late. It’s nothing to do with you, just a lot on my mind right now.”

   So, their botched hookup wasn’t the sole reason for the awkwardness. That was…really good to know. Surprising, but good to know.

   The rest of the day passed by more smoothly than any other previous day had, and that streak continued for the rest of the week. Kyle updated Woody on what happened but felt at a loss for what to do next.

   “I mean, he looks at me now, but how do I get more information?” Kyle asked exasperatedly one night. He leaned back in the chair and the cramped office walls seemed to close in on him as the smell of oil made his stomach turn. When he had started, he didn’t realize that for every two steps forward they took, they would seem to slide back three more.

   Woody sighed. “I dunno mate. That connection with the Kate girl though…that’s something we need to follow up on.” He tapped his pencil on a piece of paper, frowning as he tried to think. “Right now, Dan’s the key for all the information we need. Making sure to stay on his good side while still getting information out of him is our best bet.”

   Again, he knew Woody was right, but that answer still didn’t tell Kyle what he needed to do. The thought of pushing his precarious relationship with Dan scared him, although not for the reasons that Woody might think. Sure, he was almost single-handily going up against one of the biggest threats to his life, but this was also the first thing that had helped him get out of the rut he was in before. This gave him purpose, and while it was terrifying, he was glad for this distraction.

   Nonetheless, Kyle decided to push his luck that day at work. It was nearing the time when they were supposed to leave, and Kyle decided that it was now or never.

   “So, ah, how did this spot open up?” He asked tentatively, once again the master at breaking the silence in the room.

   Dan started and looked over at Kyle. “What?”

   “Well, Will had mentioned you had another partner before me. Did she-they leave?” Kyle cursed himself for almost giving away more than he should know; that gender slip-up could be noticed and then he’d be fucked

   “Did he?” Dan asked. He didn’t seem to notice Kyle’s slip-up, but a cold venom seeped into his voice, nothing like Kyle had heard before, and it was almost more intimidating than him noticing the mistake. Dan’s gaze hardened as he asked, “And what did he say?”

   “Erm, just that they left, and, ah, you needed a replacement.” Kyle replied with some difficulty. Dan’s sudden mood change sent chills down his spine.

   Dan’s eyes turned cold and his face stoic as he said, “Yes. And it was Will’s fault.”

   Kyle felt his stomach turn.

   “She made one wrong move, and now she’s gone.” Dan said, his voice getting rough. “Make sure you don’t do the same.”

   With that, Dan got up and walked out of the office, letting the door slam behind him and leaving Kyle alone with his whirring thoughts.

***  
   “What the _fuck_ ,” Dan spat as he stormed into Will’s office.

   His manager calmly looked up from his computer and raised an eyebrow. “Come in,” he said dryly.

   "What did you tell Kyle?” Dan snapped.

   “I’ve told him lots of things,” Will said. “What in particular are you talking about?”

   Dan sighed and replied, “About my old partner. About…” His voice caught before he could say her name. He clenched his jaw and broke eye contact with Will, staring at the ground and praying that his anger didn’t manifest as tears.

   “Katelyn? Or Kate, as you called her?” Will always seemed to relish in exploiting Dan’s weaknesses. “Yes, I think I mentioned the fact that someone else used to sit at the desk next to yours. Hence the two bloody spots.” He got up and circled around his desk until he stood facing Dan. He grabbed Dan’s chin roughly and forced him to look at him, and the two men stood there, glaring at each other, until Dan finally broke.

   “Sorry,” he muttered, taking a step back.

   Will arm fell back to his side and he smirked. “So, what did he know?”

   “Nothing,” Dan said too quickly. Will crossed his arms, and Dan cursed himself. “I mean, he just said that you mentioned her. Nothing else.”

   "Did you say anything?”

   For a moment, Dan considered lying to him, but thought better of it. Will could and would tap the mics that were in his office and he would find out what Dan said eventually. Might as well try and take the easy way out.

   “Just that…she did something wrong. And for him to not do the same,” he finally admitted.

   Will nodded, then took a step back and turned his back to Dan. “Go downstairs. Room LL47. I’ll meet you down there.”

   Fuck. “No, I can’t I-I have other things I need to do- “

   “Reschedule then.” Will snarled and slammed his fist on the desk as finally, some emotion broke through his cold façade, which made him seem far more terrifying. He turned around to face Dan, then said, “You need some extra training before you work with Simmons again.”

   Dan felt his stomach drop, but now he had no choice. He had to do as Will said, or…well, he didn’t want to think about the alternative. Clenching his fists, Dan stepped out of Will’s office and tried to wipe all emotion from his face as he headed towards the stairs.


	5. oh, i'm not ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyle starts phase two of his training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now all the chapters are in the right order!! i'm so sorry about the mixup xx

   The next morning when Kyle came into work, he was shocked to see that Dan had a black eye. “Are you okay mate?” He asked, concern tinging his voice.

   Dan simply nodded without looking up from his computer. Kyle frowned at his icy silence and sat down at his desk with the intention to get things done, but it was nearly impossible. What had happened to Dan? Did it have any connection with his storming out yesterday?

   Halfway through the day, a knock sounded at the door and Charlie stepped in. “Mr. Farquarson needs you both to come to room LL47 immediately.”

   As Charlie left the room, Kyle looked at Dan and noticed that his hands were clenched tightly into fists. “Erm, where is that?” Kyle asked hesitantly as he stood up.

   “I’ll show you.” Dan said quietly. He walked out of the room without waiting for Kyle to follow.

   Kyle swallowed hard and tried to ignore his racing heart as he quickly followed Dan as he weaved through the building and came to a door that Kyle had never noticed.

   Before Kyle could step through it, Dan roughly grabbed his arm and pulled him into a corner that was out of sight of the rest of the office.

   “What the fu- “

   “Listen to me,” Dan said urgently, “Whatever happens down there, don’t focus on it. Think of anything else, _anything_ else.”

   Dumbstruck, Kyle nodded while a million questions buzzed through his head. What did Dan mean? What the fuck was about to happen? His heart began pounding harder now, his hands trembling slightly.

   “Promise me you’ll try, okay?” When Kyle took a moment to respond, Dan gently shook him and repeated, “Please promise me.”

   “I promise,” Kyle mumbled, hardly able to talk over the lump in his throat

   Dan nodded then let go of Kyle. He hadn’t noticed it before, but Kyle’s arms had felt warm where Dan’s hands had been, and he suddenly missed the contact. After a moment had passed, Dan stepped around Kyle and opened the door.

   “Are you coming?”  
***

   Dan led Kyle down a set of stairs, where they came out into a plain white hallway that seemed to stretch as far as Kyle could see. Doors lined the walls sporadically, but there seemed to be no one else around. It was a stark difference than the floor above, where it felt like every meter buzzed with activity and life. Now, the sterile nature of the white walls and flooring made Kyle feel disjointed, as if he were in a dream. A fucking awful dream at that.

   They set off down the hallway, Dan’s sudden burst of talkativeness gone, replaced with the silence that Kyle had resigned himself to. They didn’t have to walk far because just a few doors down, Dan stopped and opened a door on the left. He pointed Kyle in, his eyes on the ground, and Kyle forced his legs to move him forward into the room, brushing gently against Dan in the process.

   Inside, was, shockingly, more white walls and flooring, and a desk with a computer on it in the middle of the room. Kyle heard Dan walk in behind him, and the door shut. Will was standing near the desk and Kyle hesitantly approached him, trying to not let on how nervous he was.

   “Thank you for coming on such short notice,” he said without looking up from his phone. “If you’ll just take a seat, Kyle, you can get on with the newest part of your training.”

   “More training?” Kyle asked with a laugh that he hoped sounded more genuine than nervous.

   Will finally looked up. “Yes, it’s necessary for your position.” The flatness of his voice indicated that he noticed Kyle’s nervousness.

   With slightly shaking hands, Kyle took a seat at the computer, where a screen saver showed the WWCOMM logo.

   “It should take you right through to the training, and you should be done by five, if all goes well,” Will said more brightly than before as he clapped Kyle’s shoulder. He then moved to stand by Dan and said, “We have some other things to work on, so when you’re done, feel free to collect your things and leave.”

   Kyle nodded and gave a nervous smile and watched as the other two men left the room. Once alone, he slumped against the seat and put his hands up to his face, trying to calm himself down. _You’re not dead yet, so don’t fuck this up_ , he thought to himself.

   He reluctantly shook the mouse and waited for the computer to wake up. A program was pulled up that simply said “ADDITIONAL TRAINING” along with the triangle logo. Typical.

   Kyle sighed, took a moment to pray to whoever was listening that he survived this unscathed, and clicked begin.

***

   Dan’s own training was taking care of another target. It was easier now that he didn’t know them, although he tried not to think of the moral repercussions of his actions. Instead, he tried to think about nothing. Of course, if he admitted that it was impossible to do so, he would get sent back to the training that Kyle was doing.

   He didn’t want to think about Kyle’s training, or his frightened amber eyes, or the warmth of his skin under Dan’s hand. He didn’t want to think about the countless other people he had tried to save from the target’s fate and failed. He didn’t want to think that, just two years ago, he was in Kyle’s spot, and he was more than eager to do whatever it took to become WWCOMM’s lapdog.

   As Dan pulled himself back into the present and squeezed the trigger target, he imagined the bullet going into Will’s head.

***

   Kyle’s phone buzzed on his nightstand and he blearily reached for it, still half-asleep. He brought it closely to his face and saw that Woody of all people was calling, which was odd, since he almost never called. Kyle frowned and answered the phone with a sleepy, “Hello?”

   “Kyle! Bloody hell, I was beginning to think you were fucking dead!” Woody replied exasperatedly. “Why didn’t you come to my place last night?”

   “Wait, what? I didn’t?” Kyle asked as he sat up in his bed. All feelings of sleepiness were gone as Woody’s words jolted him to full alertness. He never missed catching up with Woody, and how could he forget yesterday of all days? When he sat down in that weird room and…

   “Hello?”

   “Sorry, sorry,” Kyle sputtered. “I…I don’t remember last night. Or coming home. Or anything, really.” Once he said it, he realized it was true. After Dan and Will had left the room yesterday, there was a blank spot in Kyle’s memory, and the last thing he remembered was waking up. His breathing picked up as Kyle realized that the training must have caused this.

   Woody was silent for a moment then asked, “Are you okay?”

   “I don’t know,” Kyle said honestly. “I need a second. I need…” his eyes drifted over to his alarm clock and _fuck_ , he was late getting up for work. “I need to get up.”

   “Maybe you should skip work today. It seems like something bad happened and-“

   “And if I don’t go, they’ll definitely know something is up,” Kyle snapped, irritated at his situation and Woody’s incessant pushing. “I can take care of myself.”

   “Alright,” came the short reply.

   Kyle paused, then mumbled, “’m sorry. I’ll make sure to meet you tonight. Maybe we can piece something together.”

   “Be careful.” Woody said before hanging up.

   Kyle groaned as he set his phone down and was tempted to skip work and stay in bed, but he forced himself to follow his own advice and get up. After rushing about his flat getting ready, Kyle stepped outside and was greeted with foggy London weather. He started his usual commute with his body moving as if on cruise control, not even having to think about where to turn or what stop to get off the tube. He was too enveloped in his own thoughts and his own anxieties to think.

 


	6. if you're way beyond that

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan tries to help Kyle.

   The bleak weather that seemed to cling to the outside world was torn apart by the bright lights in Kyle’s office. They seemed to make the fog that had clouded Kyle’s head dissolve, but the lights almost seemed to mock him, to point out the holes in his consciousness he couldn’t quite fill. 

   Kyle thought that Dan would be quiet again today, as was his habit, but as soon as Kyle sat down at his desk, his coworker said, “Morning.”

   It took a moment for Kyle to respond, but he managed to mumble a greeting back.

   “How’re you feeling?” Dan asked.

   Of course, the one day where Kyle’s not up to talking to the gorgeous man next to him, he’s a goddamned chatterbox. “Fine,” he said shortly.

   There was a pause before Dan asked, “How was the training?”

   “Why,” Kyle snapped as he turned to face Dan, “do you want to know?” He already didn’t know how it went for himself and he didn’t know how to lie to Dan. He honestly didn’t even know what he didn’t know. All he knew was that his head was pounding, and he really should’ve just stayed home.

   Dan sighed and didn’t reply which Kyle was thankful for. They both worked silently for the first few hours of the morning, and when Kyle was about to leave to take a lunch break, Dan got up and dropped a piece of paper near Kyle’s foot. Just as Kyle was about to tell him about it, Dan left the room.

   What, were they still in primary school passing notes? Still, Kyle’s curiosity was piqued. He angled himself at his desk, so it looked like he was writing in a notebook then unraveled the note.

_Meet me at the dive down the street to the north. We need to talk._

   Of course the note was cryptic; what would Kyle have to do to get a straight answer around here? Still, he resigned himself to follow Dan’s instructions, and he got to his feet, grabbed his jacket, and left the office.

***

   The dive Dan had referred to was a block down, and the further Kyle got from the WWCOMM building, the easier it was to breathe. The fog that had obscured his thinking that morning had dissipated which helped elevate his mood even further. Once he reached what he thought was the place Dan had referred to, he cautiously walked in the front door and was hit with the smell of salt and grease. Kyle scanned the grimy surroundings until he saw Dan tucked into a back corner. He quickly made his way over and sat down across from the other man.

   “Nice place,” he said dryly. It reminded Kyle of the chip shop he met Woody at, which only reminded him of how he missed their rendezvous last night and how worried Woody had been and…

   “Are you okay?” Dan asked quietly. Outside of the office, his voice took on a softer quality, without the trace of roughness that it took on at work.

   Kyle shrugged. “Never been better.”

   “You can be honest with me,” Dan said with a frown, “I know how overwhelming it is your first few weeks.”

   “I’m being honest,” Kyle replied, not even believing himself. “Why’d you even want to meet here anyways? The scenery?”

   Dan leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest and said tentatively, “There’s no one else listening here. That’s not a luxury we have at work.”

   “Really?” Kyle asked, although he wasn’t surprised so much as shocked that he hadn’t thought of that before. That would be another thing to tell Woody.

   “Yeah. Look, I know how…disconcerting the new training can be. I went through it too. I just wanna make sure you’re okay.”

   “You did it too?” Kyle said, yet again more shocked at his own lack of conclusions than actually surprised.

   Dan nodded. “Unfortunately,” he said. After a moment of hesitation, he leaned in closer and said, “Did you follow my advice from yesterday?”

   “What?”

   “To think about anything else, to just not focus on the training.”

   “No…” Kyle murmured. “I…I honestly can’t remember anything past when you left with Will, and I know that sounds crazy- “

   “It doesn’t, because that’s what the training is supposed to do,” Dan said, that rough edge returning to his voice. “Look, Will’s going to make you do it over and over again until he’s happy with the results.”

   Kyle frowned. “And what are the results supposed to be?”

   “It depends on what they need you for. I reckon they need someone to be my new partner because there’s an opening,” Dan stopped talking for a moment, as if to compose himself, then continued, “If that’s the case, you need to do everything you can to prevent that, okay?”

   “And why are you telling me this?” Kyle asked. The more he heard, the more he felt sick to his stomach, but how could he know he could trust Dan? What if this was just a ploy to prove that Kyle was a double agent?

   “Because I…I want to stop this. I _need_ to stop this,” Dan again paused, then looked directly into Kyle’s eyes. “I can’t let them do this to another person. Not again.”

   “And who’s ‘they’? And who’s the other person?” Kyle asked, already knowing the answer.

   Dan smiled ruefully. “I can’t tell you that. Just, please, try to do everything you can today to resist.”

   Kyle nodded. “I’ll try.” 

***

   After lunch, Dan and Kyle worked quietly like they had before, but the air in the room felt changed. No longer was the silence tense; instead, it was rife with understanding about why the silence was so needed.

   Much the same as yesterday, around an hour before the end of work. Charlie came in to ask Kyle to go down to the same room, but without Dan. As he walked towards the stairs, Kyle couldn’t help but feel dread build in the pit of his stomach. What if he couldn’t do as Dan asked? What if he couldn’t resist the fate of the others, whatever it was? There were too many questions and not enough answers, but the only way to get answers was to get on with it.

   So Kyle reluctantly made his way down the stairs and into room LL47, where, again, Will was standing alone. This time he wasn’t distracted by a phone, which made Kyle all the more nervous.

   “Take a seat, take a seat,” Will said as he motioned toward the only seat in the room. “It’ll be just the same as yesterday, and you can leave when you’re done.”

   Kyle nodded and stepped towards the seat as Will made his way out of the room, and once the door shut, Kyle groaned loudly.

   “ _Fuck_ me, _fuck_ this…” he mumbled as he drummed his fingers on the desk anxiously. He tried to regulate his breathing and thought about what to do distract himself with. He could think about his meeting with Woody, but that would only add to his anxiety. There was his ex, but that was still painful. There was Dan….

   “Fuck it,” Kyle said as he clicked start, making sure to avert his eyes and think about anything else, about the first time he met Dan when he was drunk off his arse and how Dan tried to take care of him and it was really really sweet of a stranger to do that and Kyle was way too nervous and heartbroken over the recent breakup to call him and really that was it because he would love to talk to Dan more…

   Dan’s strategy was working, because as long as Kyle looked at the desk and mostly tuned out the program and whatever it was saying, he could keep himself focused. He heard bits and pieces: disembodied voices from old televised new clips, soft voices saying things that Kyle didn’t want to make out, and at least every thirty seconds was the WWCOMM slogan: _Here for You, Wherever You Are_. 

   It was almost as if Kyle was floating through time. He was so stuck in his own head that by the time the door opened, he felt like either days or only seconds had passed since he had last seen another person.

   Kyle jumped in his seat as an unfamiliar man walked towards him and barked, “Simmons, are you finished?”

   “Y-yes sir,” he replied, confused as to why he was being referred to by his last name.

   “Good. You can leave.” With that, the man turned around and left the room.

   A flood of relief rushed through Kyle as he realized that he had gotten through training without losing his head. He walked quickly back to his office, grabbed his stuff, and left the building with the hope that no one saw his hands shaking.

***

   When Kyle met up with Woody later that night, he could see the relief on Woody’s face from a kilometer away.

   "Thank god you’re okay,” Woody said as soon as he saw Kyle. “What happened?”

   Kyle gave a grim smile. “You’re not gonna believe this."

   He gave Woody a rundown of what had happened over the past few days, starting with Dan’s outburst about his previous coworker, the black eye, Dan’s tips about the training, and finally the training itself, if it could even be called that.

   Woody took notes as Kyle talked, and after he finished talking, Woody sat back and rubbed his face with his hands. It took a while, but finally he seemed to have composed himself enough to say, “Well, that’s it then. You’re done.”

   Kyle frowned and said, “What? We haven’t got any evidence though, and-”

   “I’m worried about your wellbeing Kyle,” Woody said angrily, slamming his hands back onto the table. “Forget about the bloody exposé, I don’t care about that. You’re putting yourself into harm’s way, and I can’t let you do it anymore.”

   “I’m fine-” Kyle began, but Woody cut him off before he could continue.

   "No, you’re very clearly not. You came in here shaking like a leaf, and you can’t remember an entire evening because of whatever the fuck they made you do! I can’t be responsible for you getting hurt, and I’m not going to be.”

   Kyle opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He tried again and said, “I-I’m not doing this for nothing,” quieter than Woody but just as sure of his words.

   “Why do you care so much?” Woody asked. “You didn’t even want to do this in the first place, but now you’re refusing to let up.”

   Kyle shrugged. “It’s different when you see it first-hand…I dunno. I just can’t let this happen while I know what’s going on,” He paused, then gave Woody a hard look. “And you can’t either.” How someone who could be so determined could fall so quickly blew Kyle’s mind.

   Woody sighed but said nothing.

   “So, if we’re done here…” Kyle said, and began gathering his things.

   “Wait.” Woody said, a hand going up to his temple. “Look, I’ll let you continue if you promise, really promise, to try and be safe. Please.”

   Kyle felt himself soften. “I promise.”


	7. i can feel the draw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyle's training takes a surprising turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is a little late, i hope you all enjoy it tho! xx

    Kyle's promise proved hard to keep as he had to go through training every single day before he left work. It was getting to the point where it was simply a minor annoyance, a blip on his radar. Every day, he’d zone out for however long the training took, then he’d take his leave and visit Woody. Eventually, he began to feel stagnant again, just like he felt before the training videos. There was only so much information he could gleam from the little snippets he heard while his head was turned, and even then, it’s not like he could focus on them at all. Even Woody began to get irate, although never at Kyle; he was just upset at their circumstances and concerned for his friend’s safety.

   That all changed when, one Friday when Kyle was about to finish training, instead of the usual nameless guard who came in to release him, Will stepped into the room.

   “Simmons,” he called, his voice echoing around the empty room, “Are you ready for your first assignment?”

   Kyle stood up so fast he almost stumbled, and he tried desperately to keep the sudden burst of anxiety off his face. “Yes,” he said, hopefully masking the tremor in his voice.

   “Good,” Will replied curtly, then turned on his heel and motioned for Kyle to follow him. They walked a short distance down the white, ever-empty hallway until Will opened an unmarked door and stepped inside with Kyle trying to keep up.

   In the room stood Dan, wearing an all-white jumpsuit. Kyle felt his heart begin to beat faster in his chest as he wondered what the hell was going on.

   "Your first mission, Simmons,” Will said as he stepped further into the room, “is to take care of this insurgent. Anything less than an elimination of the target will result in punishment.”

   Kyle tried not to let the surprise show on his face even though it was nearly impossible. What the bloody hell was Will talking about? What did an “elimination of the target” mean? Who was he referring to?

   Before he could question it further, Dan walked over to Kyle and handed him a jumpsuit. Kyle noticed that while his face was blank, Dan’s knuckles were bruised and bloody. He swallowed hard as he quickly pulled the jumpsuit on over his clothes, not wanting to question what was happening. Then, he turned back to Will, who was now standing by a chair that had a stranger sitting in it.

   The bent over figure looked up at Kyle, a crazy sense of hope in her eyes. She looked to be about Kyle’s age, but it was hard to tell because of the bruises that marred her face. Kyle’s brain was flying everywhere, trying to connect all the dots.

    The “target” and the poor woman sitting there helplessly.

    Dan’s bruised hands and the woman’s matching face.

   The “elimination” and all of the previously murdered journalists.

   All of that connected here, in this very room.

   Without thinking, Kyle stumbled back with a soft cry, shock dulling his senses as he pressed his back into the door. His hand pawed at the knob, but it was no use because the door was locked. Almost immediately he knew this was the wrong move because Will let out a soft laugh.

   "Huh, I guess someone didn’t do the training correctly.” He took a step further towards Kyle as he tried to find another way out but saw only blank white walls. “And I wonder who told you to do that?”

   No, no, no, no. Kyle whipped his head towards Dan, who was still standing stoically in front of the captive man.

   “Smith. Eliminate the target, then bring yourself and Simmons to room 52.” Will said. He stepped towards the door and motioned for Kyle to move. Deciding it would be pointless to not listen, Kyle slowly slid out of the way, still keeping his back pressed to the wall and his eyes glued to Will.

    Will gave a cold smile as he left the room, letting the door slam shut behind him.

   “Let me go!” cried a hoarse voice. Kyle’s head whipped around to see the woman in the chair straining to get up, desperately pulling at the restraints that kept his limbs locked in place.

    Dan sighed, then looked at Kyle for a moment. Kyle thought he could almost make out regret in his eyes, but before he could be sure, Dan said, “Don’t look.”

            The last thing Kyle saw before he turned away was Dan pulling a gun out of one of his pockets, which was followed by a deafening gunshot blasting off in his ears. Before Kyle could fully register what had just happened, Dan grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the room. The bright lights of the hallway disoriented Kyle further as his heart almost beat out of his chest and he ached for someone to come and wake him up from this nightmare.

   No such luck, of course, because all Dan did was take Kyle to room 52. Inside was a chair situated in front of multiple large television screens, and that was it. He knew it was absurd, but the one thought that popped into Kyle’s head was _What is their problem with interior decorating_?

   Dan pulled Kyle towards the chair and forced him to sit, and then quickly strapped Kyle’s wrists to the chair arms.

   "Hey, what the fu-”

   “I wouldn’t say anything if I were you,” came Will’s voice from behind Kyle, because of course. “You know, if you would’ve just done the voluntary training, all of this,” he motioned around the room, “wouldn’t have had to happen.”

   Kyle glared at him and said nothing, not wanting to give anything away.

   “You’re learning,” Will said. “Good. You’ll be doing a lot of that today, won’t he, Smith?”

   Dan nodded, and Kyle felt his heart sink. Whoever he thought Dan was before, that man was completely gone.

   “One more thing before you start,” Will said, and took a step towards Dan before he pulled his arm back and smashed his fist into Dan’s face. Kyle gasped as the taller man stumbled back but didn’t return the punch, only turning the other cheek. “That’s what happens to traitors here.” Will said with a sick sort of satisfaction in his voice.

   Kyle felt his stomach heave and his hands start to shake, but he refused to show any of that to the other men. Instead, he lifted his chin and grit his teeth, then let his gaze rest on Will, ignoring the bloodied beautiful face of Dan.

  “Enjoy,” Will said coldly as he turned and left the room with Dan at his heels.

   The second they left, the television screens in front of Kyle began blaring the training that he had watched before, but it was louder this time and almost impossible to look away from. Time seemed to slow down as Kyle tried to resist, but the bonds that bit at his wrists and the hard wood of the chair coupled with the constant static noise wore at his resolve until he couldn’t bother try anymore.

   “I’m sorry,” he mumbled to no one in particular as he finally gave in and turned to face whatever was waiting for him.

   Eventually his worries faded along with his struggle, and it became so, so much easier to just not think.

***

   Dan had his own version of training: cleaning himself up and watching the videos that he had tried to painstakingly ignore, the very same ones he tried to save Kyle from.

   For the entirety of training, he cursed himself for thinking that he could save anyone from this hell. The first time he tried it, his best friend ended up dead. Now, all he had to show for this latest attempt was the slow trickle of blood from his nose that had hardly just healed from the last blow. The soreness of his bruised face wasn’t even the worst part; his stomach ached at the thought of Kyle being subjected to whatever tortuous training Will had planned for him, the same training that had torn a year of Dan’s life away from him. The same thing that he had promised to save other people from, even if he had to play at being Wild World’s puppet.

   Instead of the anger paralyzing him, as it had before, it fueled Dan enough to give him the strength to hold onto himself through the training. From the moment he sat down to the moment he left, Dan couldn’t stop his brain from thinking about ways to finally end this, once and for all.


	8. waiting to be buried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan makes an unlikely ally and Kyle continues his work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey all! so this story is split into two parts; this one has twelve chapters, and the next part will be uploaded after this one. hope you enjoy this chapter! xx

   Kyle didn’t feel anything anymore, not that it bothered him. Actually, nothing bothered him anymore. All he knew now was whatever he was told.

   They kept him in a white room, and he left only to do the work they told him to do. It was easier this way, although he couldn’t help but feel like something was missing, like some part of him was out of place. Which was odd. Nothing was out of place here. At least, that’s what he was told.

   Still. He decided he would think about this further when he was alone. Right now, he had work to do.

***

   Kyle was having odd dreams and was told that he moved too much in his sleep. He didn’t know why he had dreams about waves dragging him down, about gunshots blasting off into his head, about dingy restaurants that were filled with bugs. Dreams about men with nice lips and blue eyes and reassuring words who dissipated into black smoke.

   The dreams had to stop.

   But a part of him wanted them. Some part of him screamed at him to run, to sprint to the nearest exit and get out of the white room and talk to the man in the room with bugs and tell him everything that he had done, was doing, was about to do.

   But the part that won out was the part that they had created, that they controlled. He forgot about running away once he was working, which was all that mattered. Now, Kyle lived and worked for Wild World and all he did was for the greater good.

***

   Dan worked in a different office now, a smaller one, and it seemed that the favor he had won during his first two years at WWCOMMs had run out. He figured it was because they had finally found another person to do all their dirty work. Dan hardly knew how he brought himself to work every morning, how he allowed himself to continue working for this bloody company that ensnared and trapped some harmless man who just wanted to stop these injustices. It made him sick, but what could he do? The last time he had tried to stand up to them, he had to kill his best friend. There was nothing he could do.

   As Dan left work one dreary Friday afternoon, his head still muddled, he walked by a chip shop he always passed but never noticed and before he could react, was grabbed by an unseen hand that yanked him into the doorway before he could so much as fight back.

   “What the fuck?” Dan snapped as he felt himself get pushed into the shop unwillingly.

   “Don’t do anything rash,” the man said. He wore an olive jacket and had long hair that poked out from his hat, but Dan found it hard to get a good look at him.

   “Who the fuck are you?” Dan tried again as he finally managed to push the man off.

   The man stumbled back and put his hands up. “I’m sorry, but you have to come with me.” Before Dan could question him, the stranger dragged Dan into an office that was in the back of the empty restaurant, his hand gripping Dan’s arm with an iron clasp.

   In the office, Dan was forced into a chair, and he was unpleasantly reminded of all the other times when he had rebelled and gotten himself in trouble at work. For a moment, he feared that it had happened again, that this was a test, but no bonds held him down into the chair, and he didn’t recognize the man, who was calmly sitting down behind the desk. All the man did was watch as Dan stumbled up from the seat and shot towards the office door.

   “I wouldn’t do that,” the stranger called after him.

   “Why not?” Dan countered, turning to glare at the man. “You just grabbed me and shoved me into this room!” he cried indignantly.

   The man sighed and crossed his arms, then said, “Fine. If you go out those doors, though, you’ll never be able to stop Wild World.”

   “What?” Dan asked as his brow furrowed and his shoulders tensed.

   "That got your attention,” the man said, then stood up and made his way over to Dan. He stuck out a hand, then said, “I’m Woody. Nice to meet you.”

   Dan looked at Woody’s hand, then his face, then his hand again. Finally, he hesitantly shook it, not knowing what to think. What the fuck was going on?

   “I’m assuming you don’t trust me,” Woody said, “and that’s fine, because to be perfectly honest, I don’t really trust you. But, I have some things you need, and you have some things I need.”

   “Like what?” Dan asked, his shoulders relaxing slightly as Woody walked back to his desk and took a seat.

   Woody paused as he pondered his next words. “I know what Wild World does. You know where Kyle is. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

   “How do you know Kyle?” Dan asked as a defensive edge crept into his voice, which he hoped masked the surprise. He ignored Woody’s statement about Wild World; after all, if he knew about Kyle…

   “We…worked together,” Woody said carefully. “And I need him back.”

   How vague. Dan sighed, then put a hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need lots of things, too. First, some answers. What kind of work did you do?”

   “We’re working against Wild World,” Woody finally blurted out, then seemed to regret it. “And from what Kyle told me, you seemed to be on the inside of it all.”

   So, Kyle was a spy. Interesting. Not completely surprising, since he was quite jumpy, but interesting nonetheless. Dan thought over what he had just learned, then asked, “If I’m working against your cause, why trust me? Why tell me any of this?”

   Woody sighed then said, “I dunno, I just…I’m desperate. I haven’t heard from my best friend in nearly a week now, and I’m running out of leads. I need help.”

   “Huh,” Dan said as he retook his seat, “You didn’t answer my question: why trust me?”

   “I don’t, but I have to try. I head from some other people that you worked with Kyle, and…” he stopped, then gave Dan a hard look and said, “Look, you can walk out that door and report me or whatever and I’ll get what’s coming to me. But from what I heard about you, you seem like you want to fight back, and I want to help you with that.”

   Dan frowned. “What did you hear about me?”

   “That you helped Kyle fight against whatever fucked-up training videos they forced him to watch. That you warned him of things before they happened to him.”

   A small blush crept up Dan’s neck and he tried to ignore the knot in his stomach as it tightened. As much as he tried to help Kyle, none of that mattered now that he was gone.

   Or was he?

   If what Woody was saying was true, then there had to be a way to work together to, at the very least, retrieve Kyle from the grasp of Wild World. The resilience and anger that had started bubbling when Kyle was taken from him slowly began burning brighter.

   Maybe this could be Dan’s window to make things right.

   Maybe he could finally end this nightmare, once and for all.

   As he rubbed his face with his hands, Dan finally said, “Fine. Where do we begin?”

***

   Kyle’s first assignment passed with ease; no longer feeling anything seemed to make the gun lighter in his hands, the task easier somehow.

   It was only easy before the insurgents began fighting back. Kyle’s second assignment was a woman who had to be restrained up until the moment he eliminated her, and even then, she managed to get a few blows on him. His third assignment, however, was the hardest.

   “Kyle, please,” the man sobbed as he strained his arms against the clamps on his wrists. He was taken in after it was found that he had given an insurgent information about current workers at Wild World Communications.

   Kyle didn’t need to know much else to realize that this man had to be eliminated. Once a traitor against the greater good, always a traitor.

   But still. This insurgent knew Kyle’s name, which was confusing. He didn’t recognize the man, wasn’t told their names. Names weren’t important. But they were important to the man.

   “Please,” the insurgent tried again, this time slumping his head against the seat. “Kyle, you know me. It’s Charlie, yeah? I didn’t even mean to do that, the man said he knew you and was just concerned-”

   “Stop,” Will snapped. He was watching over Kyle to make sure he was okay. “Who talked to you?”

   Charlie glared at Will through tear-stained eyes and said, “I don’t fucking know, all I know is what he looked like. Some blond bloke who was wearing a jersey and he had long hair.”

   “Would you be able to pick him out of a line-up?” Will asked.

   Charlie hesitated, but that hesitation was all the confirmation Will needed. He nodded to Kyle, who in turn raised the gun and, without hesitation, pulled the trigger.

   “Make sure to clean up after yourself,” Will said dismissively as he left the room.

   That night, Kyle had nightmares about gunshots and dreamt again of the room filled with bugs, but this time another man was in there with him. If Kyle tried, really tried, to see his face, he could just make out bright blue eyes and dark hair, but the vision was as thin as a whisper and was gone as quickly as it came.


	9. coming up for air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyle is forced to reveal his secrets, and Dan has to deal with the aftermath.

   Now that Woody and Dan had forged an unlikely alliance, Dan had to face that fact that he was doing the one thing he promised he would never do again: go against Wild World while risking multiple lives in the process. Dan tried to ignore that as he and Woody talked through multiple different plans.

   “Is there any way to get Kyle back safe and sound without just going in there and grabbing him?” Woody asked after an hour, defeat edging into his voice. They had already gone through an exhaustive list of ways to try and infiltrate the building, but each one seemed more desperate than the last.

   “I dunno,” Dan said as he gave an exhausted sighed and leaned back in his chair.

   “Have you even ever tried to get someone out? How do you know these plans won’t work?” Woody asked with an accusatory tone in his voice.

   Dan felt a strike of anger at Woody’s words and replied irritably, “I’ve tried before, and the person I tried to save is dead now. Happy?”

   “Fuck,” Woody muttered as he put his head in his hands. “I’m sorry mate, I didn’t realize…”

   “Maybe you should’ve thought about that, then,” Dan said as he abruptly stood up. “Look, I want to help you, I really do, but there’s nothing we can do. I’ve already tried everything, and Kyle still ended up…there,” It was hard to even think about what they were doing to him. After a pause, Dan added, “I’m sorry.”

   “Could you try, at least?” came Woody’s reply, muffled by his hands. His voice broke on the last word, and Dan felt himself soften. He knew what it was like to lose a close friend, and he never wanted anyone to feel that pain again if he could help it. He considered the possible outcomes of a rebellion: either it works, and they somehow stop Wild World and all of its atrocities, or they all end up dead, or worse. If Dan didn’t help, though, he’d have to live with the guilt that he let another innocent person succumb to a fate worse than death.

   At this point, what was one more suicide mission?

   “Fine,” Dan said after a long stretch of quiet contemplation.

   “What?” Woody said as he lifted his head up.

   “Let’s try and do this. Save Kyle. As long as you know that it’s probably not going to work.”

   “Deal,” Woody said, his voice more even than it was before. He stuck his hand out, just like he did when he first ‘met’ Dan, and Dan couldn’t help but give a small smile as he shook Woody’s hand.

   “So, what’s the plan?” Dan asked, their conversation looping back to the start.

   Woody gave a conspiratorial smile and said, “Well, I have thought of one thing…”

***

   Kyle was brought into questioning shortly after he eliminated Charl-the target, and the questioning process was dreadful. Will stood by as an unfamiliar and unnamed guard asked the same question over and over again: “Do you know who the insurgent was talking about?”

   As if anything could jog Kyle’s memory. All he knew was what he was told. Trying to dredge up anything from the past was like trying to see through a dense fog: the harder he tried to look, the more impossible it became to distinguish any figures in the gloom. It didn’t help when another man came in and began trying to beat answers out of him, as the aching of his body only thickened the fog in his brain.

   Finally, after what felt like an hour of intermittent beatings and questioning, a lull in the interrogation uncovered a single word from the fog: _Woody_.

   With that name came a flood of memories: Kyle’s meetings with the leader of the Currents, his double agent work, Dan’s warnings to him, everything that Kyle had forgotten that had led up to him bleeding on the white concrete floor.

   As the memories came back, the words flowed out of Kyle’s mouth uncontrollably, unable to be held back by him any longer. A part of his brain screamed at him to stop, but he was much too exhausted to listen to that rebel part. All he wanted was to lay down and sleep, and that sleep was only attainable if he just gave Will what he wanted.

   After his confessions, everything seemed to pause for a moment, and Kyle feared that the beatings would return now that Will knew of his double agent work. He flinched when hands grabbed him but found that it was only to force him to stand up, which proved difficult on shaking legs.

   “Thank you for your participation, Simmons,” Will said, “You’ll recover soon, but right now, you need more training.” He motioned for Kyle to be taken out of the room.

   As the door opened and he was led out, that small part of Kyle that was still Kyle told him that he needed to run out the door and not look back.

   But the part of him that won was the part that they had created.

   So Kyle let himself be led to whatever training room they needed him to be in, and he let himself be strapped to a hard chair. He hardly flinched as the multiple television screens flared on, all blaring the same audio. Kyle hardly noticed anything anymore, but that’s what they needed.

***

   Dan didn’t go into work the next morning. He needed a day to breathe, to figure out where his head was before he went and ruined two years’ worth of work.

   Of course, it would be easy to go back on his promises, to turn Woody in and turn a blind eye. He knew that, if he chose to, Woody would come willingly since Dan hadn’t been told or shown anything else about the Currents, only the things that he needed to know to help Kyle. He presumed, though, that if Wild World ever caught the Current’s leader, that would spell the end for the rebels.

   Would Dan be welcomed back lauded with praise because he helped take out the only real opposition that stood against WWCOMMs? Would it even be worth it? Or would he end up where Kyle was, somewhere deep within the labyrinth-like compounds of god-knows-where?

   And besides to the immediate threat to his wellbeing, how could Dan leave Woody to the same fate he had sealed for Kate? His heart still stopped for a moment when he thought about her; to add another name to the list of dead innocents would be too much to bear. Besides, he had started to like Woody against his better judgment. He was a little rough around the edges but had a good head on his shoulders. Besides, wasn’t the enemy of his enemy his friend?

   Those thoughts tortured Dan throughout the morning even when he tried to block them out with music, a creative endeavor he had abandoned when he first started working for Wild World. It was always easy to block out his thoughts with melodies and lyrics, to focus on the momentum of the track and the movement of fingers and forget about the constant pit of anxiety in his stomach. It was almost enough for him to lose himself, until his cell began ringing. He ignored it, but then it started going off again. And again. After the fourth time, Dan sighed and dug it out of his pockets to find that he had missed calls from none other than Will.

   “Oh, fuck,” he muttered as he felt a wave of anxiety pass over him. He took a deep breath and called his manager back, getting up and pacing around his flat in a futile attempt to calm his nerves.

   “Smith,” came the cold greeting, “we noticed you were missing today. Come in before noon or we’ll have to terminate your position.”

   The line went dead.

   “Bloody hell,” Dan groaned as he lowered his phone and ran his other hand through his hair. Whatever the fuck Will meant by terminate, he knew it mustn’t be good. Despite his reluctance, Dan rushed around his flat to try and clean himself up and get himself ready to go into work. Before he left, he took a final glance around to the cluttered place he called home, and with a heavy heart, he turned and shut the door, not knowing if he would return.

***

   The first thing Dan noticed as he walked into work was the new receptionist at the desk. It was some woman he didn’t recognize, which was odd. Where was Charlie? He knew he shouldn’t ask about it, but even as she smiled and swiped him in, Dan couldn’t help but feel even more anxious than he had on his commute. The rest of the office seemed normal, with all of the journalists buzzing around like the perfect hive.

   Dan quickly made his way to his isolated office and shut the door as soon as he set foot in there, desperate to have a moment to breathe. He leaned against the cool metal of the door, trying to relax. Nothing bad had happened so far, right? He was going to be oka-

   Heavy knocking pounded right behind Dan’s head, and he almost jumped out of his skin. So much for a good fucking afternoon.

   Once he had taken a second to compose himself, he opened the door to find Will standing in the hallway.

   “Can I come in?” Will asked, a useless question, since he stepped into the office and brushed past Dan before he could say anything.

   “Go right ahead,” Dan muttered sarcastically, too bewildered to give a fuck about seeming professional.

   Instead of replying, Will set down a manila folder onto Dan’s desk and turned to face him. “I have a new project for you.”

   “What is it?” Dan asked as he walked over and sat behind the desk.

   “New information on a possible rebel gang. Call themselves the Currents, for some fucking reason,” Will said with a slight snort. “We may have found the identity of the man who’s behind it from a very trustworthy source.”

   Dan felt his heart almost stop at Will’s statement. Could that source be…?

   “We need you to verify this information, and bring in the insurgent in for, ah, questioning.”

   Dan nodded because he couldn’t speak over the lump in his throat.

   Will leaned over the desk and asked, “Do you understand, Smith?”

   “Yes,” he managed to reply as he set his jaw and looked at Will.

   His manager returned Dan’s glare, and for a moment the air seemed to freeze around them. “Anything less than bringing in the insurgent by the end of the week will result in termination. Do you understand?” Will asked.

   And again, Dan voiced his agreement and hoped his gaze remained cool and unaffected.

   “Good. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning with a lead.” With that, Will left the room.

   As soon as the door slammed shut, Dan quickly grabbed the file and flipped it open.

   “Fuck,” he muttered as he scanned through the folder. Inside were what looked to be grainy shots from security cameras that showed Woody approaching a familiar figure, although he couldn’t quite figure out who it was

 _What am I going to do?_ Dan thought to himself, hoping that the walls would help, but all that answered him was the reverberation of his own voice.


	10. left to my own devices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Woody think of a plan to get Kyle out.

   “What the fuck do we do?” Dan asked as he paced around Woody’s small office. He could only take a few steps in one direction before he had to turn on his heel and go the other way, but the movement still helped him to keep up a little with his racing thoughts. As soon as he got off work that day, Dan took a winding path to this meeting spot so they could figure out a plan together.

   “I dunno,” Woody said quietly. He was still frowning over the copy of the file that Dan had received earlier that day. “A lot of this information is pretty vague. They’re pulling at straws.”

   “Yeah, well, the straws they do have are pretty fucking incriminating for you,” said Dan. “Aren’t you fucking terrified right now? I’m supposed to bring you in so they can _kill_ you.” It was beyond Dan as to how Woody seemed to be so composed right now.

   Woody shrugged. “I knew that going into this would be risky. I’m surprised it took them this long, honestly. Still…”

   “What?”

   “They can’t kill me, even if you do bring me in,” Woody said, “because they don’t have all the information. I didn’t tell Kyle everything about the Currents; he doesn’t even know where the other headquarters is, or the names of most anyone else that works for me.”

   “Whatever else that they do is one hundred times worse than being killed,” Dan pointed out.

   “And what is it, exactly, that they do?” asked Woody.

    Dan shrugged and replied, “I dunno. Some sort of weird, cultish thing. Whatever Kyle told you about their training, about their videos. It’s like they sap all the will from your body, and then…”

   “You do whatever they want you to,” Woody finished, frowning at Dan. “Did they ever…y’know…?” He waved his hand in the air, as if the unsaid words hung in front of him.

   Dan nodded. “Yeah, they did. It’s…not fun.”

   “Is that why you…?” Again, Woody left the question hanging, but Dan knew what he meant.

   “Yeah,” he said, “that’s how they got me to do whatever they needed me to.”

   “Why even do that, though? And why you?”

   “I dunno,” Dan said. But he did, he just didn’t want to admit it.

   He had started out as a journalist, fresh out of uni with his degree. He was desperate for a job, one that paid well, and he got a journalism offer from Wild World right after Kate did. Though the pay from it wasn’t enough, there was an opening in the security department, which paid significantly more, and Dan hadn’t thought much about why a security job came with such a high pay wage before he had applied. Before he knew it, he had been promoted to the new position. Then, he figured out why he got so much more money. He went through constant training, both with the strange videos and with the firearms Wild World seemed so fond of. Dan lost a year of his life living and working for Will, in those white hallways that seemed to snake under London for miles.

   It wasn’t until Kate jolted him out of his year-long stupor that he realized something was wrong. She had watched him slip away for a year after he left his journalism position, and spent that entire time trying to get to him. She eventually sacrificed her freedom by becoming his partner, and she was the one to disengage him from the training. Before they could enact a plan to get out together, though, Will found out about their budding rebellion, and he put a stop to it in the only way he could.

   Dan remembered the fear he felt as he was forced to do the training over and over again, as he was forced to kill his best friend and the one connection he had left in the outside world. Eventually, he just gave in to the numbness that Wild World offered and figured he would live like that until they no longer needed him.

   Then Kyle came into the picture. And everything changed.

   “Dan?”

    Woody’s soft voice broke through Dan’s thoughts, and he realized that he was no longer pacing but sitting on the floor.

   “Sorry, it’s just hard to talk about,” he said, surprised to find his voice shaking.

   Woody clapped a hand on Dan’s shoulder and said, “I understand. Look, I’ll give you some bullshit information that you can take in tomorrow. Would that work?”

   “Yeah,” Dan said with a weak smile, “thank you,”

   “No problem,” Woody said as he sat down to write up fake documents, leaving Dan to quietly contemplate the coming week.

***

   Simmons could tell that Will was getting restless because the training he was told to do was getting more rigorous, more intense, with each passing day. He lived and breathed Wild World.

   The strange dreams had stopped, for the most part. Simmons would still dream of a blue-eyed man that would come to take him away, but every time he tried to talk to Will about it, he would get punished.

   Eventually, he simply learned his lesson and kept these dreams to himself, burrowing them away in the corner of his mind that remained untouched by training. Sometimes he would want to remember who that man was, what he meant to Simmons, but that made his head pound and body shake. It was easier this way, to hold it back and not worry.

   Still. That night as Simmons laid in his bunker, he tried to remember what the man looked like, what the shape of his lips were, why he was stuck in his head and he fell into a fitful sleep, unable to get the stranger out of his head.

***

   At their next meeting, Woody kept drumming his fingers on the table and wouldn’t look Dan in the eye.

   “What’s up?” Dan finally asked after a series of short conversations had led nowhere. 

   Woody sighed, then looked at Dan for the first time that day. “There was another body found.”

   “Fuck, where? How’d you find out?” Dan asked, his heart beating quicker in his chest.

   “A source,” Woody said with a wave of his hand, then continued, “said he was found last night in an alley in Harlesden. The papers didn’t identify him, but it was Charlie.”

   Dan couldn’t say anything. All he could do was sit down numbly in the chair across from Woody, his anxieties proven right. So that’s why Charlie wasn’t at work, and that’s why no one was talking about it.

   Finally, after Dan had gathered his thoughts, he said, “That’s terrible, how was-” Dan stopped, his stomach dropping. “Wait. How do you know his name?”

   “I’m sorry,” was Woody’s reply.

   “Woody, what the fuck do you mean?” Dan’s anxiety turned into anger as he waited for the response. His mind raced to the pictures in the file that Will had given him, to the figure he couldn’t quite make out…

   “I…I cornered him one day after work,” he said haltingly, “and thought we were out of range of the cameras. I was just so scared for Kyle, y’know? I needed to ask if he was okay, if Charlie knew anything…”

   “And you got Charlie killed,” Dan said coldly.

   “It’s not like I meant to!” Woody snapped, anger replacing the sorrow in his voice. He put his hands on the desk in front of him, then said, “It’s not like I wanted another person dead! I just needed to know if Kyle-”  

   “Why does that matter? You’re supposed to be _stopping_ this, and all you’ve done is gotten more people dead or trapped!” Dan said, feeling his voice getting louder without being able to stop it. “Do you realize who killed Charlie? It was your fucking friend! Because of you!”

   Woody got out of his chair and Dan stood to meet him, the men glaring at each other. Dan glanced down to see Woody’s knuckles were white, and he felt himself tense, waiting for the blow to come.

  A moment passed.

  Then another.

  Finally, Woody took a step back.

   “I’m sorry,” he said roughly.

   Dan nodded in response, not trusting himself to speak.

   “Look, I…” Woody tried, trying to speak but his voice left him.

   “It’s fine. You didn’t mean to, you were just worried. I’m sorry too,” Dan finally said, his gaze locked on the ground. “But we need to stop this. Before anyone else gets hurt.”

   “You still wanna help?” Woody asked.

   Dan glanced at him and thought about his choices. He was pissed at Woody for endangering Charlie like that, for adding another body to the list. As it stood right now, Dan could turn his back on Woody, turn him in, and be done with resisting the inevitable. Or, he could help Woody work against impossible odds to get their friend back and possibly even beat Wild World.

   It was a no-brainer, honestly.

   Sticking out his hand, Dan asked, “Truce?”

   “Truce,” Woody said as he shook Dan’s hand. “Now, let’s get those bastards.”

   It took a while, but finally they decided on a plan: tomorrow, Dan would tell Will that he found the Current’s main office space, and he would lead Will to the office they stood in. It’d be wiped down and cleaned out, and Dan would be able to take Will out (hopefully) without much trouble. That would create enough of a distraction for Dan to sneak back to Wild World, get Kyle out, and get the fuck out of dodge.

   Once they had finalized the last of the plans, Dan headed home, his nerves starting to get the best of him. He had to try at least three times to get his keys into the lock to get into his flat, and he found that he couldn’t sit down, let alone try and sleep, so he spent most of the night pounding away at his keyboard, hoping his anxieties would drown in the melodies he produced.


	11. big boys don't cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaah so close to being done with part one!! thank you so much for all the nice comments and everything, they really help keep me going. i hope you enjoy these last few chapters!! xx

   Dan didn’t know if he had ever been this nervous. As he took the tube to work, he couldn’t stop his hands from trembling as he messed with his phone and found it hard to keep his breathing even. This was the moment he had been waiting for: to take Will out, to finally end the hold that Wild World held over him.

   So why did the thought of taking another step fill him with dread?

   He was just going to try and not think about it as much as he could for as long as he could. Once he got into his office, he took a deep breath and tried to get his thoughts straight, tried to go through the itinerary for the day, but right after he sat down, he heard a knock sound at the door. Of course.

   “Come in,” he called, hoping to hide his anxiety behind carefully constructed bravado.   

   Will strolled in to the office, still wearing his coat. “So, what do you have for me today?”

   “A location,” Dan replied as he slid a manila folder across the desk to his manager, “which acts as the headquarters for the rebels.”

   “Huh,” Will muttered as he flipped it open and glanced at the papers.

   Dan waited in silence with bated breath, praying to whoever was listening that this would work.

   “Good work Smith. Follow me,” Will said as he turned to leave the room with Dan hurrying after him. They paused briefly so Will could disappear downstairs and get two guns, one of which he handed to Dan once he got back upstairs. As Dan tucked it away into his jacket, he tried not to focus on the heavy weight of the metal gun or the weight of the free world on his shoulders.

   They walked in silence together through foggy, cold weather that seemed to mirror the somber tone of Dan’s thoughts. As the distance between them and the chip shop narrowed, Dan tried to focus on keeping his face straight, without any emotion.

   Once they arrived, Will motioned for Dan to go into the door first. Dan nodded and stepped up into the store, his heart beating in his throat. He heard Will’s footsteps behind him as he followed Dan to the back office, and once both men had filed in, Dan turned and promptly shut and locked the door.

   Before he could grab his gun or even turn around, Dan felt a pair of hands grab his arms and push him up against the wall. He tried to struggle, to break free of the grip, but a cloth was forced in front of his face and within moments Dan had collapsed to the ground, still struggling to fight back.

***

   Simmons was told to stay in his bunker today, which was odd. But he wasn’t to question them, nor did he really feel any need to. He lay on his mattress in silence, waiting for more instructions.

***

   Dan woke up in a hard, wooden chair with his hands tied behind his back and his ankles connected to the chair. He tried to make a sound but found that he was gagged with a piece of tape over his mouth. Panic began to rise in his chest, and he looked desperately around the room to get his bearings, and then he wished he hadn’t, because it dawned on him that he was sitting in the underground of WWCOMMs. The room looked almost identical to the ones he had woken up in numerous times during his training: stark white walls, hard concrete floors, and a single door with no windows.

   He saw Woody standing against the wall furthest from him, and the blood drained from Dan’s face when he saw that the man he thought was his friend was wearing a white jumpsuit with the WWCOMMs logo.

   Dan tried to call out to Woody but to no avail; the tape over his mouth muffled his words, and Woody’s eyes never strayed from their far away gaze. It occurred to Dan that his hands were tied behind his back with rope that felt like it was cutting all the circulation off, and the more he struggled, the tighter it got.

   After several minutes of Dan attempting to break free, he heard the door open and footsteps approach his chair. Dan trained his gaze on the ground, not wanting to see who was standing in front of him but knowing who it was anyways.

   “Look at me.” Will said quietly.

   Dan kept his eyes on the ground as he clenched his fists.

   Will let out a deep sigh, then struck Dan’s face with an open palm, sending a resounding crack through the otherwise silent room. Then, he roughly grabbed Dan’s chin and forced his head up. “I said, _look at me_.”

   After a moment of Dan staring daggers into Will, his head was roughly shoved back by Will and the tape ripped painfully off his face. He tried to swallow a groan of pain as the sting of the tape made his eyes water combined with his aching cheek. No fucking way would he let Will have the satisfaction of watching him cry.

   “Thank you, Wood. You can leave,” Will said to Woody, who without hesitation left the room and slammed the door shut, leaving Dan alone with his manager.

   A beat passed before Dan got the courage to ask, “What’s going on?”

   “You’re still clueless, aren’t you?” Will asked teasingly. He took a step back from Dan and folded his arms, then said, “There is no rebel alliance. The Currents is something made up by me. All that information that you thought was leaked? That was published by them with permission from me, from the uppers at this company. There has never been any rebel alliance that could even get close to us.”

   Dan’s brow furrowed, and he asked, “What about Charlie, or Kyle, or the other rebels? They can’t be in on this-”

   “Oh, but they can,” Will said smugly. “Did you wonder why Wood never introduced you to the other rebels? They don’t exist. It’s all just Wild World. We’re there with you, wherever you are, remember?” Dan tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as Will continued, “We use Wood to lure in traitors in the making. Charlie was an unintentional casualty, but he had all the makings of a future insurgent like you and Simmons.”

   Dan stiffened at the sound of Kyle’s name, and Will gave a patronizing smile. “And yes, we know about how you two met. What a coincidence, right?” He gave a hard laugh, once again relishing in the pain Dan faced. Dan’s hands shook, his wrists ached, and all he wanted to do was break free and tear Will apart.

   “You’re mad,” he spat, not knowing how to properly voice the anger and betrayal that he felt.

   Will snorted. “And you’re stupid. You really thought that someone could trust you? _Please_. This was too easy.”

   Dan lowered his head to his chest, feeling tears of anger budding in his eyes. He clenched his teeth, vowing to not let the tears fall.

   “Perhaps we can find a use for you, like Wood,” Will said as he began to circle Dan, “as it would be a shame to waste all your training, although it might be interesting for you to eliminated by your ‘mates’…”

   Squeezing his eyes shut, Dan prayed for this nightmare to end. But all he got when he opened his eyes was another blow, this time to his nose.

   “That’s what traitors get,” said Will, and Dan opened his watering eyes to see the retreating back of Will. “Don’t move, I’ll be right back,” he said mockingly as he left the room.

   Alone, Dan was left to suffer through the bleeding of his nose without being able to staunch it, left to think about what had just happened alone without the comfort of anyone to help him through. A sob built up in his chest, and he let out a soft cry before burying it back down again. He tried to focus on the aching of his wrists, hoping it would distract him from his sinking heart, from his aching brain.

   The silence of the room brought him back to when he was made to kill Kate, and his heart began beating painfully in his chest as he thought about what would happen to him. Would he be forced to kill Kyle? Actually, he would be more likely to kill Dan, and the thought of dying in this room, alone and bloody, made him want to scream to whoever was listening that this wasn’t fair. All he had tried to do was the right thing and this was what he got. He was tied up to a chair and bleeding out of his twice-broken nose, blood mingling with sweat mingling with tears.

   After his moment of brokenness, a wave of numbness spread over him and his heart hardened. At least he had tried, right? That was more than most people could say. Dan focused on regulating his breathing, on the beating of his heart that didn’t want to quit. No matter what came, Dan knew that at least he had tried and that had to be enough.


	12. world gone mad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An escape is attempted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise update! i hope you all like the last chapter of the first part xx

   Simmons was roused from his bunker by an unfamiliar worker and was instructed to follow her to interrogate another insurgent. He walked quickly after her, slightly more eager now that he was doing something other than waiting. He was told to go into the first room on his right, and in the room was the insurgent.

   Simmons felt his heart jump when he saw the man for some reason, then frowned. Even though he was told this man was an insurgent, he couldn’t figure out why he seemed to know him. Simmons did not consort with anyone outside of Wild World. To do so would be to go against the greater good. So why did Simmons find it hard to breathe when the man looked up at him and started yelling?

***

   Dan thought this couldn’t get any worse, but of fucking course it did, because they had to bring in Kyle to interrogate him. When Kyle entered the room, Dan could hardly believe it was the man that he had known before. He had always been skinny, but now he was hardly more than skin and bones. That wasn’t the most troubling thing though; instead of his eyes being a soft amber color, they were now a shocking blue-white that almost blended in with the whites of his eyes.

   “Kyle!” Dan yelled hoarsely, “Are you okay?” He knew the question was rubbish, that of course Kyle wasn’t okay, but he had no idea what to say and fumbling for words right now didn’t seem to be a productive use of the little time he had left.  
            Kyle didn’t respond. He just stood there stoically, waiting for something to happen.

   “Alright, let’s get started!” said Will brightly as he strode in, breaking the tense silence between the two men.

   Dan stifled a groan, not ready for whatever hell awaited him.

   With his hands behind his back, Will stepped up until he was just in front of Dan, until he was within striking distance. If Dan could just get his hands free…

   “Do you know of any other rebels?” asked Will as he began circling Dan.

   Dan rolled his eyes and said, “Obviously not anymore.”

   “Simmons, you know what to do,” Will said, evidently not happy with Dan’s dry tone.

   Without hesitation, Kyle stepped forward and drew a fist back, and Dan hardly had a moment to prepare himself before the blow landed, connecting sharply with his cheek.

   “I said, do you know of any other rebels?” Will demanded again.

   “You know I don’t, you-”

   Before Dan could finish, Kyle hit him again, this time with a fist to the stomach. All of the air seemed to rush out of Dan’s lungs, and he leaned forward, gasping for breath.

   This continued for what felt like hours, although Dan knew it could’ve only been around an hour. Every time he couldn’t answer one of Will’s questions (which was all of them, because they were all unanswerable), he would be hit again and again and again, until he was sure that every inch of his body was black and blue. The entire time, Will stood behind Dan, watching as he was pummeled to a pulp by someone Dan was stupid enough to trust. Each blow made Dan regret his decision to ever trust anyone, let alone people who tried to rebel.

   “Have you had enough, then?” came Will’s voice from the pain-induced fog that hazed over Dan’s vision. When Dan didn’t bother dignify Will’s question with an answer, Will continued, “You know, I can stop this.”

   “Bullshit,” Dan managed to mumble through bruised lips.

   A soft laugh echoed from behind him, and Will stepped forward back into Dan’s vision. “If you just say the word, this could all be over.”

   Will continued to drawl on about how Dan could stop all of the pain if he just gave into Wild World and returned to his position and et cetera, but the one thing that caught Dan’s attention was the loosening rope around his wrists. In fact, if he wriggled his hands a certain way, he could theoretically get it loose enough to slip them out…

   As Dan tried to discreetly get his wrists free, he caught sight of Kyle’s bruised hands, then looked up to meet his blank white stare. Dan’s heart went up into his throat, and he felt himself soften because he knew that Kyle honestly wasn’t aware of what he was doing. Dan had been in that state before, and he of all people should know that there was always a part of you that remained cognizant of the horrors you were committing. Which meant that there was still a part of Kyle that could be saved.

   In the process of freeing his hands, Dan began to think of a plan.

   “Are you even listening?” Will’s voice hurled through Dan’s thought-stupor, and he glanced up to see the man towering above him. “Incredible, honestly,” Will muttered, more to himself than to the others.

   A resounding crack went through the room as Dan was struck yet again, but this time by the back of Will’s hand.

   “Now will you listen?” Dan heard Will say through ringing ears. “Because you can stop this. Just say the word, and this will all be over. Everything will go back to the way it was before.”

   “No, thanks,” Dan replied, hoping to buy more time to finish getting his wrists free.

   “Are you sure?” asked Will, “Because if you say yes, you can come back to Wild World. It’ll be like this never even happened, and all those people wouldn’t have died in vain. You can stop this, Smith.”

   Dan could feel his temper growing with each word, but he tried to keep his face looking broken, anything to keep Will in front of him as the ropes loosened around his wrists. “I’m alright,” he mumbled, struggling to keep his face neutral as he felt the last of the rope slacken.

   “Fine,” Will said with a soft sigh, “Simmons, take care of this insurgent.”

   As Kyle pulled a gun out of his pocket, Dan knew that this was the time to act. Right as the other man clicked the safety off, Dan leaped out of his seat and wrestled the gun out of Kyle’s hand.  

   “Sorry mate,” Dan said as he gave Kyle a good blow to the face, knocking him to the ground. With that taken care of, Dan stood up and glared at Will, pointing the gun at the other man’s chest.

   “Bad choice, Smith,” Will said as Dan was met with another fucking gun pointing at him. Seriously, where the fuck do they get all of these firearms?

   Dan shrugged, trying to act nonchalant even has his heart was beating in his chest so loudly he swore that Will could hear it

   “Simmons!” Will called, and Kyle slowly got up from where he had crumpled to the ground. He made to walk in front of Will, and Dan knew this was his last chance. He aimed the gun and shot it at Will’s chest, not even flinching as the gun went off with a bang. The next thing he knew, Will had fallen to the group as a scarlet stain began spreading on his shirt. For good measure, Dan flipped the gun over and bashed Will over the head with the handle, hopefully knocking him out cold for the time being.

   Dan lunged forward and grabbed Kyle, who had stopped walking after the gun went off and was staring at the crumpled form of Will on the ground.

   “C’mon mate, let’s get out of here,” Dan said as he grabbed Kyle’s arm and dragged him out of the room. They would only have so much time before backup inevitably showed up, and then they’d be well and truly fucked.

   Kyle stumbled after Dan, all the while stuttering, “I-I can’t, I ha-ave to say here a-and…”

   “Your job now is to get the fuck out of here, okay?” Dan said impatiently, throwing the door open as he looked to make sure the hallway was clear.  He didn’t bother look back to see if Will was actually mortally wounded; the only thing on his mind at that moment was getting out of there with Kyle in tow.

   Luckily, Kyle seemed to be in shock or whatever equivalent he could feel in his current state. He was hesitant but was dragged by Dan as they navigated the halls they both knew so well. Just as Dan thought they were going to make it, he heard a loud yell behind them as they retreated up the stairs.

   “Fucking hell,” he muttered as he picked up the pace, rushing up a staircase two at a time with Kyle barely keeping up behind him. They burst out onto the landing of the ground floor amidst the chaos of unknowing journalists, who turned to stare at the bloody men with shock and horror.

   With a sigh, Dan muttered, “S’cuse us,” and powered through towards the back exit. It would be easier to disappear through the winding alleys of London instead of hauling down the main road. Dan felt his pace quicken as they reached the back door, but a rough hand yanking him back broke the spell of hope.

   “Where d’you think you’re going?” snarled a guard. Dan didn’t hesitate before he smashed his fist into the man’s face, then shoved him backwards, where the guard hit his head on the ground and didn’t move again.

   “Th-that’s not good,” Kyle muttered, “That’s a-an ally. We need to help-p him-”

   “We need to help ourselves, idiot,” Dan snapped as he once again grabbed Kyle and dragged him into the crisp London afternoon. As soon as fresh air hit his face, Dan felt his wounds sting and his eyes blurred with tears. The adrenaline that had pushed him through the pain was fading, and it was being replaced with a constant ache that made it hard to breathe.

   The two men stumbled out from the back of the building, and Dan didn’t know where to turn. Eventually, he decided to weave in and out of side streets and alleyways, always on the lookout for following footsteps or white jumpsuits. All they found, though, was trash that caused them to stumble and the occasional shocked onlooker.

   Finally, after Dan could no longer push through the pain, the men took refuge in an alley behind a dumpster. Not the best place to be, considering his entire body felt like an open wound, but he hoped that their winding path would keep WWCOMMs off their tail, at least for the night.

   Throughout the entire escape, Dan had kept his iron grip on Kyle the entire time, terrified of him getting left behind, which would render all of this pain and suffering useless. “Are you okay?” Dan asked Kyle softly, the first time that entire day he was able to actually talk to him.

   Kyle only stared straight ahead as a response, and Dan felt his heart sink.

   Wasn’t all of this pain and rebellion useless? All that Dan had thought he knew was false; the Currents wasn’t a real rebel alliance, and there didn’t seem to be any others like it. Woody was a double agent, and Kyle was nearly brain-dead. The only thing they could do was sit there like trapped prey, waiting on the impending doom that almost certainly awaited them in the form of white jumpsuits and guns blazing. For a moment, the one thing Dan wanted to do was give in, to give WWCOMMs what they wanted, because what was the point anymore?

   A soft sigh roused Dan from his depressing thoughts. Kyle had leaned back against the dumpster, breathing softy. “Thank you,” he said softly, so softly that Dan thought he may have imagined it. But he didn't.

   With those words, Dan felt a glimmer of hope. He grit his teeth and tried to pull himself together. He couldn’t let Wild World continue to ruin lives in vain, not while he was still alive and free. Somehow, some way, he would fix Kyle and stop Wild World, no matter the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit! i cannot believe i'm halfway done with this fic!! thank you all for the support, the comments and kudos always make my day xxxxx
> 
> hold on tight for the next part, which should be going up within the next few weeks. thank you all so much!!


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